May 2010
Hot Property News Letter – May 2010
1: BRITISH TELEVISION IN SPAIN
Recently, most British Terrestrial Television, i.e. ITV1, 2, 3, 4 and BBC 1, 2, 3, 4 has become FREE TO VIEW and, furthermore, it is NOT necessary to have a Sky digital receiver, nor a card, nor pay any subscription.
At the present time, the only way to get these channels is from the Astra 2 satellite, so the services of a professional installer are required to supply and install the satellite dish correctly.
In respect of Channel 4, 5 and SKY 3, a Sky digital receiver (or similar) and a card is required. But still there is no need to pay any subscription.
Some areas obtain a better reception than others, so consider the diameter of the dish and the LNB (the receiver in the centre of the dish which actually receives the signal and, finally, the receiver itself.
The Receiver: Please note, that a British Digital FREE VIEW receiver will not work in Spain - a good quality Spanish unit is required. BBC & ITV channels now only require a European Free to Air Digital Receiver. These can be purchased from most electrical outlets. Costs vary from as little as 65€ to 95€.
It is not possible to receive Channel 4, Channel 5 or SKY 3 with these receivers, even though they are Free to Air. To do so, it will be necessary to obtain a SKY Digital Decoder, with a Free View Card.
There is a similar problem with channel 4 & ITV. However, with a SKY viewing card, it is possible to retune to a different frequency. As an example, for ITV, the Channel Islands regional channel and for Channel 4, the Northern Ireland channel. An additional benefit, is that it is also possible to choose which Regional BBC & ITV station to watch, so keeping up with the local events back in the UK.
UK purchased televisions: A television set purchased in the UK will not work for watching Spanish Television. The British system is PAL-1. Spain uses the PAL- BG standard. However, it will work via a satellite system or by connecting the aerial to a Spanish video player, which must be connected by a SCART lead to the TV.
Watching Spanish TV: Whether you understand the Spanish language or not, I am sure that most people will agree, that after a night in front of the Spanish box, the BBC license fee is worth every penny, even though it is not possible to pay for it in Spain. Do not feel guilty about this, as people living near the Dutch, Belgium and French coasts have been able to receive the BBC for years. The BBC, due to the demand, even went to Holland to film an Antiques road show.
There are two state owned channels - TVE 1 and 2, channels specific for each region and the two large privately owned Antena 3 and Tele 5. With regards to the state-owned channels there is currently an obvious attempt to improve the quality of programmes, which is generally poor. News coverage can be quite disturbing as there is little editing of live, video footage; probably a backlash of years of censorship under Franco.
Chat Shows: For anyone that enjoys Trisha, or wants to keep up with news on celebrities, they will be in for a real treat, as the main offerings are low quality chat shows devoted to gossip and scandal. Warning: exposure to such programs should be kept to a minimum as they can result in severe headaches, as it is a requirement of the guests and presenters to talk at more than 125 decibels.
UK influenced TV: Reality television is as much of a draw here as in the UK, with copies of The Weakest Link and Who Wants to be a Millionaire, the presenters of which are Spanish clones of Anne Robinson and Chris Tarrant.
Advertising: Spanish television has commercial breaks every fifteen minutes that last fifteen minutes. In fact, it is easy to switch channels and become engrossed in two or three programmes on different channels at once, while you wait for the other one to return.
TV for Learning: Compared to the quality of the BBC own CBeebies, there is little educational value in Spanish children’s television. Dubbed Japanese cartoons are in abundance and Muppets’ style ‘Los Lunnis’ is popular with the three to eight age group. TVE often shows dubbed episodes of the Fimbles and Teletubbies, which are a great familiar starting point for both pre-school children and adults alike, in acquiring some Spanish.
Learn Spanish by watching the television: Spanish television is a good way to improve the understanding of the Spanish language although, if watching a South American soap, be aware that some Spanish words have different meanings in South America and visa versa.
2: ORANGE TREE - ADVICE & HISTORY
Commercially grown fruit trees are all around us in this part of Spain and many private gardens have them as well. The Valencia orange is a sweet orange, used for juice extraction. It is a late season fruit and a popular variety when other oranges, such as navel, are out of season. It was chosen as the official mascot for the 1982 FIFA World Cup in Spain and was called "Naranjito" (little orange) and wore the colours of the Spanish team. The Valencia region is also known as "The Orchard of Spain" and locals also use orange trees to make tea by drying the blossoms that fall off the tree prior to fruiting.
The word "orange” is derived from the Sanskrit "naranga” which means "orange tree”. The Hindus used the same word for orange, which evolved into the Persian word "naranj”. Spain clung to the original by calling the orange "naranja”, which is still used in Mexico and other Latin American countries. Portugal adopted "laranja”, Italy used "arancia” and France chose, what the English also use, the "orange”, with variations in pronunciation, of course.
The popularity of the orange in the Mediterranean flourished to the point where the need to protect this fragile fruit became paramount. Seneca's 19th epistle (c50 BCE) tells of the Roman use of "mica", a transparent material that separates into thin leaves to shelter the most delicate plants in their gardens against the cold. Soon, entire structures were designed for this purpose and were called "stanzone per I cidri", which were the forerunner of the modern greenhouse. In fact, Europeans called these buildings "ornageries" in honour of their celebrated occupants.
Except for Spain, where both the orange and the Arab remained, the fall of the Roman Empire obliterated orange cultivation in Europe. The Arabs appear to be the first to mention them in their writings. The earliest description of the bitter orange in Europe was by a 13th century author and the sweet orange was not mentioned until 1471. It was not until the time of the Crusaders that the bitter orange, along with the lemon and lime, was brought back to southern Italy by soldiers returning from Palestine. It was then known as the "bigarade" and its juice was used as a flavouring and the whole fruit made into preserves, the ancestor of the modern orange marmalade.
This was the first orange brought to Europe by the Moors, who also brought irrigation technology as the orange had flourished in Spain, despite the country's arid weather. Because of this, the generic name of Seville is still used. The Seville, or Bigarade, cannot be eaten raw; instead, they are used for making marmalade, jams and jellies. Vast numbers are grown in Seville but, surprisingly, Spaniards never make marmalade and almost all of their oranges are exported to Britain. Seville oranges are used in the classic sauce bigarade, traditionally served with roast duck. Marmalade has been made with sour oranges since 1587 when a recipe appeared in an English cookbook. The amount of pectin and acid in sour oranges makes them ideal for marmalades, especially the infamous Seville orange marmalade.
The sweet orange rapidly became popular throughout Europe and remains the most popular of all citrus fruits. They were served in theatres as refreshments and, hence, the appearance of Neil Gwynn in history books.
Sweet oranges can be divided into five or six main categories which are available at different times of the year: Common sweet oranges, blood, navel, acid less, bitter and mandarin which many include with the hybrids.
Orange Tree Care: During the winter, there is no real need to water, unless there is a very dry spell but in the summer months, the tree will need copious amounts of water on a weekly basis, to produce good sized fruits. Failure to water can also result in leaf curl and a poorly looking tree.
Quite often, orange trees are neglected and left to grow into a wild state in the mistaken belief that they will look after themselves. This causes the quality of the fruit to deteriorate, the quantity of fruit to decrease and allows certain diseases to infiltrate the tree. Some regular pruning is therefore necessary.
Here are some easy to follow steps to guide you through that process, the essential tools you will need and then how and where to prune so that your orange trees will stay healthy, be less prone to certain disease, look great and most importantly produce more good sized, well shaped and tasty fruit.
Orange trees only need pruning once every two years or so to keep them looking good, healthy and within bounds. This can be carried out any time between March and August, but is best done before flowering begins early in the year.
(Lemons need to be pruned more frequently to keep them within bounds and make fruit picking easier, as they grow more quickly than other species of citrus) In any event, all citrus trees should be inspected annually for any disease or infestation and abnormal growth (see the note on suckers, below).
The tools that are needed are heavy duty gardening gloves, essential to protect your hands as many varieties have nasty thorns; a pair of good quality bypass secateurs for the accurate and clean pruning of smaller branches and deadwood; long handled loppers to prune thicker branches while a pruning saw should be used when an extra thick branch needs to be removed.
Inspect the tree from all angles, starting from low down on the trunk. First of all, identify the graft joint. In layman's terms, this is the point where the growing shoot of the tree species was joined with the rooted stem of a stock variety. It is usually found on citrus trees between one and two feet (0.3 and 0.6 metres) from ground level and looks like a slightly swollen lump, although it is not always obvious.
Above the graft joint is where the main branches of the tree are seen to branch out. If there is strong new growth, starting from low down on the main trunk below the graft joint, these are suckers that must be removed. Suckers are new shoots produced by the donor rootstock and will not be true to the variety of tree. They will often be extremely thorny and will grow strongly but produce no edible fruit.
They sap the strength from the tree and will severely reduce fruit production, so it is very important that they are removed as soon as they are noticed. Use your hand pruning shears to cut them off as close to the trunk as you can get, with a clean vertical cut. If they are very thick, use the long handled loppers to prune them. A vertical cut is essential to allow moisture to run away, to prevent rot setting in and to allow the trunk to heal and absorb the wound quickly.
Once all the suckers are removed, pruning of the main canopy can begin. It is important that the centre of the tree is opened to allow sunlight and air to penetrate.
As you prune, walk around the tree several times, if necessary, to get different viewing angles of your work. Prune out any branches that cross in the centre and remove all thin, spindly twigs by cutting hard to the main branch. Also cut out any dead wood to prevent infestation by wood boring beetles.
To keep the size of the tree in check to ease fruit picking, prune tall branches back to keep the height of the tree to below eight feet (2.5 metres). All length shortening cuts should be made at an angle where possible.
These easy to follow steps will simplify the process of pruning orange trees. You will see that it is easier to prune than most people suppose and will protect the trees from disease and infestation, liberate them from strength sapping suckers, encourage new, fruit bearing growth to appear and will ensure better quality fruit and result in healthy, good looking trees.